A few years ago the SFA decided that Greenhill Road would act as the home ground for the Scotland under-21 team. It iss a great honour to have (although I'd like to think they're also giving us some cash for our troubles) and makes sense, even if people on the east of the country weren't best pleased. The ground is about the right size for the under-21s, it has good facilities, the TV companies love it, it's just off the motorway and across from the airport. Perfect.
However, while they're more than happy to use our ground, they don't seem too willing to use our players. Don't for one minute think I'm suggesting we should have people in the full Scotland squad because, with the possible exception of Paul McGowan when he's on form, we don't currently have anyone capable of doing a job for Gordon Strachan's side. It's been more than 20 years since any Buddie represented Scotland and that was Roy Aitken. Since then only Paul Fenwick, with Canada in the mid 1990s, and Sander Puri, with Estonia last season, have played for their country while a Buddie. Paul Gallacher and Craig Samson have been in squads since, while Andy Dorman was capped for Wales after he left us. I can't see anyone being capped any time soon and I have no real problem with that.
What is a cause for annoyance is the fact we have no one in the Scotland under-21 side. I remember when we were in the first division that our best youngsters - such as Kirk Broadfoot, Hugh Murray, Sergei Baltacha and Steven McGarry - would regularly be in the squad. Yet, despite having two extremely talented young midfielders, every member of our squad has this weekend off. It doesn't make any sense.
The players I'm talking about are, of course, Kenny McLean and John McGinn. McLean was a regular for the under-21s until he got injured last season, but he still featured for them in March. He has had a good start to the season after another injury and is one of our few goal scorers. His absence from the squad is mystifying - especially when you consider a Celtic reserve called John Herron is there, along with Rangers' Lewis Macleod and a few Premiership youngsters. Clearly playing in League One or the reserves is more suitable for the under-21 boss - former Saint Billy Stark - than appearing regularly in Scotland's top flight.
McGinn, to the best of my knowledge, has yet to feature for the under-21s and is still only 18 so it's perhaps understandable why he is missing. However, what makes absolutely no sense is his omission from the under-19s, who have called him up pretty much since he broke into our first team last season. McGinn is regularly playing in the Scottish Premiership and putting in great performances, having scored for us against Hearts last week. He hasn't been injured. With the exception of Dundee United's Ryan Gauld, not one of the other midfielders in the squad is a first team regular, so the fact he has been in and out of the team this season is irrelevant. He should be there.
Stark was a pundit for BT Sport when we played Aberdeen the other week. Both McGinn and McLean played. The squads were announced later that week. Why was McLean not in the under-21s - and why on earth was McGinn omitted from the under-19 squad (admittedly not Stark's responsibility) in favour of some Old Firm youngsters who have barely kicked a ball for the first team? Our start to the season may not have been great, but surely having guys playing regularly - in the top league in Scotland - is far better than reserves.
Of course, we know the answer. For years, at just about every level of the national team, Old Firm players have got the nod over guys that are doing a job elsewhere - even if the people at Rangers are Celtic are barely getting a game. Move from Hearts or Aberdeen to Glasgow and suddenly you're in the squad. That still seems to be the way even though Rangers are now in League One. Perhaps if their reserves are good enough for the under-19s then those at Airdrie and East Fife are as well...
The under-21s beat Slovakia on Thursday while the under-19s drew with Latvia. Both good results so clearly the omission of our players didn't hurt them too much. However, it really sticks in the throat that guys who were good enough six months ago are denied the honour of representing their country for no logical reason. They have been dropped – there is no other way to describe it.
Players that have been dropped often try to prove a point to their manager when they next get a chance – so hopefully Scotland's loss is our gain and McLean and McGinn show Stark and co what they were missing out on when we play St Johnstone next week.
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